Magnetic guide of cold atoms using a U-shaped current-carrying conductor

We propose a new scheme to magnetically guide cold neutral atoms using a U-shaped current carrying conductor. The spatial magnetic field distribution from the U-shaped current-carrying conductor and the relationship between the magnetic field and parameters of the U-shaped conductor are analysed. Our study shows that U-shaped current-carrying conductor can be used to realize single- or double-channel magnetic guiding of cold atoms in weak-field-seeking states and to construct various atom-optical elements. By using Monte Carlo simulations, the dynamic process of the guided atomic-beam splitting in an atomic-beam splitter composed by the U-shaped current-carrying conductor is studied, and some results are presented.